The financial statements of Jean Coutu are presented in Appendix B following the financial statements for Shoppers Drug Mart in Appendix A.

Instructions

(a) Based on the information in these financial statements, determine the following for each company:

1. Total assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity at the end of the current and prior fiscal years

2. Sales and profit for the current and prior fiscal years

(b) Calculate the percentage change between the current and prior fiscal years for each company for the assets, liabilities, shareholders' equity, sales, and profit amounts determined in (a).

(c) What conclusions about the two companies can you draw from the data you determined in (b)?

(d) Jean Coutu's fiscal year end is the Saturday closest to the end of February. Shoppers Drug Mart's fiscal year end is the Saturday closest to the end of December. Knowing that the year ends of Shoppers Drug Mart and Jean Coutu are not the same, do you have any concerns about the comparisons you made in (c)?